Secretaries R Meenakshi Sundaram, Vinay Shankar Pandey address media on outcomes of summit
By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 9 Dec: Secretary to the Chief Minister R Meenakshi Sundaram and Secretary Industries Vinay Shankar Pandey, addressed a joint press conference after the conclusion of the two day Destination Uttarakhand Global Investors’ Summit here today.
Sundaram said that the outcome of the Summit has been positive and this is the first time in a course of one year that investment proposals worth Rs 44,000 crores have been grounded and an investment of over Rs 3 lakh crores has been promised. In response to a question, he said that due to framing of many investor friendly policies and simplification and amendment of existing policies, a large number of investors have shown keen interest in investing in the state. He said that at the outset of the Summit, MoUs of investment worth Rs 2.5 lakh crores had been signed with the potential investors but additional MoUs and proposals worth Rs 1 lakh crores have been signed during the course of two day Global Investors’ Summit. He expressed confidence that projects worth Rs 1.5 lakh crores would soon be grounded.
Meenakshi Sundaram further insisted that the usual way of working in most states regarding holding investment summits is that the MoUs are usually signed during the Summit and therefore the grounding begins only after the summit. However due to special directions of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, this time, MoUs worth Rs 2.5 lakh crores were signed even before the summit began during the road shows held in London, Birmingham. UAE, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai and Ahmedabad and during the one on one meetings the CM had with many leading investors. Grounding of projects worth Rs 44,000 crores was also achieved before the summit itself.
Secretary Industries Vinay Shankar Pandey informed that so far the MoUs for an investment of more than Rs 3.4 lakh crores have been signed. In past two days during the summit, MoUs worth around one lakh crore rupees were signed additionally. A large number of projects are related to manufacturing, hospitality, tourism, health, education and Wellness sectors. He informed that most of the top industrial houses and groups were represented by the promoters or their authorised representatives and representatives of around 28 to 30 countries also participated in the summit. In response to another question, Pandey informed that keeping in view the policy of an optimum balance between economic growth and ecology, only the environment friendly rojects for the hill areas have been approved. Many big investors from the hospitality sector like the Oberoi, Welcome and Tata have shown interest to set up hospitality properties in the hills.
In response to another question, Meenakshi Sundaram informed that Tata group is in an advance stage of talks with the state government for setting up of an Electronic City in the state. To promote investment in IT sector, some IT Towers will be built through SIDCUL for IT companies like Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys which have shown interest in setting up IT business here.
Director General of Information Banshidhar Tiwari thanked the media for their coverage of the Investment Summit and also informed that the exhibition at the FRI Campus showing Uttarakhand’s journey of development will continue for another two days.
